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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



D001715b41A 



64th Congress) 
2d Session ) 



SENATE 



/Document 
I No. 649 



WILLIAM O'CONNELL BRADLEY 



(Late a Senator from Kentucky) 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 



3Sb 



DELIVERED IN THE 
SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 



Proceedings in the Senate 
June 24, 1916 



Proceedings in the House 
May 25, 1914 



PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF 
THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON PRINTING 




(?(/') 



WASHINGTON 
1917 







D. of D. 
FEB 19 1918 



CONTENTS 



Page 

Proceedings in the Senate 5 

Prayer by Rev. Forrest J. Pretty man, D. D 5 

Memorial addresses by — 

Mr. Ollie M. James, of Kentucky 9 

Mr. Charles E. Townsend, of Michigan 15 

Mr. John D. Works, of California 17 

Mr. John Sharp Williams, of Mississippi 18 

Mr. Francis E. Warren, of Wyoming 20 

Mr. John W. Kern, of Indiana 24 

Mr. Knute Nelson, of Minnesota 27 

Mr. James Hamilton Lewis, of Illinois 30 

Mr. Lee S. Overman, of North Carolina 37 

Mr. Reed Smoot, of Utah 39 

Mr. J. C. W. Beckham, of Kentucky 43 

Proceedings in the House 51 

Prayer by Rev. Henry N. Couden, D. D 51 

Eulogy by Mr. C. Lee Cook 47 



[3] 







HON. WILLIAM O BRADLEY 



Death of Hon. William O'Connell Bradley 



Proceedings in the Senate 

Monday, May 25, 19U. 

The Senate met at 11 o'clock a. m. 

The Chaplain, Rev. Forrest J. Prettyman, D. D., offered 
the following prayer : 

Almighty God, from everlasting to everlasting Thou art 
God. A thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday 
when it is past, and as a watch in the night. Thou dost 
not count the short span of our human existence as the 
measure of Thy purpose in human life. 

We come to Thee this morning with sad hearts because 
another one of the sweet ties of human friendship has 
been broken. A man respected and loved among us has 
been called to the great beyond. 

We thank Thee for those qualities of heart and mind 
that made him a high and patriotic statesman, a devoted 
friend, a lover of little children, honored by his State, 
respected by his fellow citizens, loved by those who knew 

him best. 

The mystery of life is again presented to us. We ask, 
Who is sufficient for these things? We turn our faces to 
Thee O God of grace, and pray that Thou wilt still lead 



us on. 



We commit to Thee with our sympathy and love that 
inner circle of friends of the dead Senator, whose hearts 
are too tender at this hour even for the touch of human 
sympathy, and pray that they may feel the healing touch 
of the great sympathizing Divine friend. For Christ s 
sake. Amen. 



[5] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Bradley 



Mr. James. Mr. President, it becomes my sad and pain- 
ful duty to announce to the Senate the death of my dis- 
tinguished colleague, Senator Bradley, who passed away 
at 9.45 o'clock last Saturday night in this city. 

He came to this Chamber with the greatest honor that 
his native State could bestow upon him. He had the dis- 
tinction of being the only member of his party who was 
ever honored with the governorship and the senatorship 
of the great State of Kentucky. 

He was one of the most genial of men and a prince 
among his fellows. He was a distinguished lawyer, a 
great orator, and a profound statesman. His followers in 
Kentucky idolized him, and they will love his memory as 
they loved him during his life. He will be greatly missed 
by his colleagues in this Chamber, as he will be mourned 
by his thousands of followers and friends in his beloved 
State. At some future time I shall ask the Senate to set 
apart a day to pay tribute to his memory and to his dis- 
tinguished services to his State and to his country. 

I send to the Secretary's desk the following resolutions 
and ask that they be read. 

The Presiding Officer. The Secretary will read the reso- 
lutions offered by the Senator from Kentucky. 

The Assistant Secretary (Henry M. Rose) read the reso- 
lutions, as follows: 

Resolved, That the Senate has heard with deep regret and pro- 
found sorrow of the death of the Hon. William O. Bradley, late a 
Senator from the State of Kentucky. 

Resolved, That a committee of 14 Senators be appointed by the 
Vice President to take order for arranging the funeral of Mr. 
Bradley. 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect his remains be re- 
moved from his late home in this city to Frankfort, Ky., for burial 
in charge of the Sergeant at Arms, attended by the committee, who 
shall have power to carry these resolutions into effect. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate these proceedings to 
the House of Bepresentatives. 

[6] 



Proceedings in the Senate 



The Presiding Officer. The question is on agreeing to 
the resolutions. 

The resolutions were unanimously agreed to. 

The Presiding Officer. The Chair appoints as members 
of the committee provided for in the second resolution the 
Senator from Kentucky, Mr. James; the senior Senator 
from New Hampshire, Mr. Gallinger; the junior Senator 
from Wyoming, Mr. Warren; the junior Senator from 
North Carolina, Mr. Overman; the senior Senator from 
Utah, Mr. Smoot; the senior Senator from Indiana, Mr. 
Shively; the senior Senator from New York, Mr. Root; 
the junior Senator from Indiana, Mr. Kern; the senior 
Senator from New Jersey, Mr. Martine; the junior Senator 
from Washington, Mr. Poindexter; the junior Senator 
from New York, Mr. O'Gorman; the senior Senator from 
New Mexico, Mr. Fall; the junior Senator from Arizona, 
Mr. Smith; and the junior Senator from New Jersey, Mr. 

Hughes. 

Mr. James. Mr. President, I move as a further mark of 
respect to the memory of the distinguished Senator that 
the Senate do now adjourn. 

The motion was unanimously agreed to; and (at 11 
o'clock and 7 minutes a. m.) the Senate adjourned until 
to-morrow, Tuesday, May 26, 1914, at 11 o'clock a. m. 

Monday, May 29, 1916. 

Mr. James. I desire to give the following notice, which I 
send to the desk and ask to have read. 

The Vice President. The Secretary will read the notice. 

The Secretary. The Senator from Kentucky gives the 
following notice : 

That on Saturday, June 24, 1916, immediately upon the conclu- 
sion of the routine morning business, he will ask that the business 
of the Senate may be suspended that fitting tribute may be paid 
to the life and character of the Hon. William 0. Bradley, late a 
Senator from the State of Kentucky. 

[7] 



Memorial Addresses : Senator Bradley 

Saturday, June 24, 1916. 

Mr. James. Mr. President, in accordance with the notice 
heretofore given, I send to the desk the following resolu- 
tions and ask that they may be read and adopted. 

The Vice President. The resolutions will be read. 

The resolutions were read, considered by unanimous 
consent, and unanimously agreed to, as follows: 

Resolved, That the Senate has heard with deep sorrow of the 
death of the Hon. William 0. Bradley, late a Senator from the 
State of Kentucky. 

Resolved, That as a mark of respect to the memory of the de- 
ceased the business of the Senate be now suspended to enable his 
associates to pay proper tribute to his high character and distin- 
guished public services. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate a copy of these reso- 
lutions to the House of Representatives and transmit a copy thereof 
to the family of the deceased. 



m 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 



Address of Mr. James, of Kentucky 

Mr. President: William O'Connell Bradley was born 
near Lancaster, Ky., in Garrard County, March 18, 1847. 
He departed this life on May 23, 1914, in the city of Wash- 
ington. His father was Robert Bradley, one of Kentucky's 
most brilliant lawyers, and his mother was Ellen Totten 
Bradley. 

Senator Bradley was educated in the public and private 
schools of the community, but he never had the advan- 
tages of a college education. When he was 14 years of 
age he twice ran away from home and joined the Union 
Army, but each time because of his youth he was taken 
from the Army by his father. In 1861 he served as a page 
in the Kentucky Legislature. 

In 1865, when he was only 18 years of age, he was given 
a license to practice law by special act of the Kentucky 
Legislature. The bill provided that he might be licensed 
if found competent by two circuit judges. An examina- 
tion was held, and he was found competent and admitted 
to the bar to practice law. He quickly took high rank as 
a lawyer in our State and became very active in the prac- 
tice of law in both State and Federal courts, the United 
States Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court 
of the United States. 

At the age of 20 years Senator Bradley was married to 
Miss Margaret Robertson Duncan, of Lancaster, Ky. 

In 1870' he was elected county attorney in Garrard 
County. This was considered a very great political tri- 

[9] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Bradley 

umph for a young man of Republican faith, for the county 
was overwhelmingly Democratic. He was the nominee 
of the Republican Party for Congress in the eighth con- 
gressional district of Kentucky in 1872 and 1876, and in 
both campaigns, which were heated and fiercely con- 
tested, he made creditable races. The district, however, 
was largely Democratic, and while he reduced somewhat 
the Democratic majority, he was unable to win. In these 
campaigns he demonstrated great power as an orator, 
great ability as a debater, and won for himself a State- 
wide reputation. 

In 1879 he was nominated for attorney general by his 
party in Kentucky, but on account of ill health declined it. 
In 1887 he received the Republican nomination for gov- 
ernor of Kentucky, while Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner, 
the great Confederate general, was the nominee of the 
Democratic Party. This race for governor between Sen- 
ator Bradley and Gen. Buckner attracted national atten- 
tion, and although Gen. Buckner won the race it was by a 
greatly reduced Democratic majority. In 1895 Senator 
Bradley again received the Republican nomination for 
governor, and after a remarkably brilliant campaign was 
elected by a majority of 8,912, carrying with him to victory 
all of his associates upon the State ticket. He served the 
State as governor for four years. 

Four times Senator Bradley was nominated for United 
States Senator and voted for in the Kentucky Legislature 
by the Republican Party, but his party was in the 
minority. During these contests it was the highest honor 
that could be accorded to one of its members to be selected 
as the candidate of the Republican Party in Kentucky for 
United States Senator. In 1908 he was finally elected 
United States Senator for a term of six years. 

Senator Bradley was seven times selected by his party 
as a delegate at large to the Republican national conven- 

[10] 



Address of Mr. James, of Kentucky 

tion. He made the speech for Kentucky seconding the 
nomination of Gen. Grant for President in 1880. His 
friends have always claimed for this speech that it was 
one of his greatest efforts. It was a very eloquent and 
stirring speech. He was one of the " immortal 306 " who 
voted for Grant first to last, and he often referred to that 
fact with pride. 

In 1884 he was the leader on behalf of the South in its 
efforts to defeat the reduction in the representation of 
the Southern States in the national convention. At the 
Republican national convention in 1904 he made a speech 
seconding the nomination of Theodore Roosevelt for 
President. 

Senator Bradley was three times elected a member of 
the Republican national committee from Kentucky. The 
State delegation was instructed for him for President in 
1896, and he was many times voted for in the Republican 
national conventions for Vice President. 

In 1889 President Harrison appointed him minister 
to Korea, but he declined the appointment. President 
Arthur appointed him to conduct the prosecution on the 
part of the Government in the case of the star-route con- 
tractors, but he also declined that appointment. 

Senator Bradley was often honored by his party in the 
national conventions by being elected chairman of the 
Kentucky delegations and serving in other very important 
posts and positions. 

Kentucky was more generous to Senator Bradley than 
it has ever been to any other Republican in its history. 
He was the only Republican who was ever elected in Ken- 
tucky as governor and United States Senator. He was 
truly the father of the Republican Party in our State, its 
best beloved leader, greatest orator, and most splendid 
debater. 

He had more joint debates with Democrats in Kentucky 
than any other Republican who ever lived in our State. 

[11] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Bradley 

His party was proud of him and always gathered with 
confidence to hear him in debate with any of the leading 
Democrats of the State, for they felt certain they had a 
champion worthy of any foe, and in this they were never 
disappointed. He lifted the Republican Party in Ken- 
tucky from almost hopeless minority to victory in the 
State. 

As a- lawyer Senator Bradley ranked with the very first 
in the whole country. He was engaged in many of the 
great legal battles in our State. Before a jury in advocacy 
of a cause he was wonderfully magnetic and powerful. 
In other addresses upon various subjects he displayed 
great learning and brilliancy. 

His address in dedication of the Kentucky monument 
on the Chickamauga battle field in 1899 will take rank 
with the world's great orations. What a wide contrast 
there was between that speech, breathing the sweet elo- 
quence of a reunited country and paying tribute alike to 
the heroes of the two contending armies, and his fiery 
eloquence which stirred the Republican national conven- 
tion in 1880 as he pleaded for Grant's renomination for a 
third term! How the years had mellowed and softened 
him! Pleading for Grant's renomination, he said: 

He gave voice and strength to the proclamation which struck 
the shackles from 4,000,000 of fellow creatures. The merciless 
slave driver tremblingly read it by the flash of his victorious 
cannon. He pinned it on the breast of murderous treason with a 
million loyal bayonets. 

But in his great dedication speech at Chickamauga 19 
years later he used the words: 

It is equally true that those who were fortunately defeated were 
inspired by sincere devotion to principles conscientiously believed 
to be just; that they fought with valor equaled alone by those who 
opposed them, but never surpassed, and their heroic suffering and 
bravery entitle them to the admiration of all mankind. 



[12] 



Address of Mr. James, of Kentucky 

And it was Senator Bradley's hand that wrote the in- 
scription on that monument: 

As we are united in life, and they united in death, let one 
monument perpetuate their deeds, and one people, forgetful of all 
asperities, forever hold in grateful remembrance all the glories of 
that terrible conflict which made all men free and retained every 
star on the Nation's flag. 

Here is a concrete example of how time wrought its 
glorious work of reuniting a once estranged people. 
Time, with its noiseless march through the passing years, 
teaches the eloquent tongue that thrilled the thousands 
assembled in national convention with martial eloquence 
to charm a multitude in generously just tribute to the men 
who wore the gray, who fought and fell for a lost cause, 
as well as those who fought in triumph for a glorious Re- 
public, according to each the same sincerity, bestowing 
upon all the same tribute of heroism. It was the same 
spirit and tolerance of men upon both sides of that awful 
struggle — remembered now only to recount the deeds of 
heroism of the bravest armies that ever clashed upon 
field of glory. 

The sons of soldiers dead, the sons of soldiers living, 
caught the fine spirit of which Senator Bradley's elo- 
quence is but a type, and now we vie with each other in 
paying tribute to men of both the South and the North 
who followed the standards of opposing armies and 
pointing with devotion and love to the dearest colors 
ever knit together in a banner of the free, waving above 
a happy and reunited people bound together in patriotic 
love with bands stronger than steel. 

Senator Bradley easily ranked as the South's greatest 
Republican. He numbered his friends among the men 
of all parties. In the discharge of his official duties he 
willingly served all the people. He was nonpartisan in 
his service to the people of Kentucky. No one ever 

[13] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Bradley 

claimed Kentucky as his home who did not find him a 
willing aid and of great assistance. He was good-natured, 
kind-hearted, and a wonderful entertainer. He was proud 
of Kentucky's hospitality and always sought to emulate it. 
In his death Kentucky lost one of her greatest citizens. 
He had rendered distinguished and signal service to the 
whole people. His party lost its greatest leader, and they 
may truly say, " Ulysses has gone and left behind him 
none strong enough to bend his bow." 

Here in the Senate there were few men who ever served 
who had the warm affection that was accorded Senator 
Bradley. His colleagues will long remember him affec- 
tionately. 

His name will live in Kentucky, and his deeds will form 
a part of its history. His friends were legion, and while 
death comes to us all, it could not have touched a citizen 
of Kentucky and caused more sorrow and tears than were 
occasioned when Senator Bradley was summoned to the 
court of God. Truly we may say, " Pale Death knocks 
with impartial foot at the cottages of the poor and at the 
towers of kings." 

He is greatly missed and will be long loved and remem- 
bered in thousands of Kentucky homes. 



[14] 



Address of Mr. Townsend, of Michigan 

Mr. President: Sometimes when I reflect upon the 
slight attention given by Senators to memorials of their 
departed colleagues I am impressed by the thought that 
it might be well to discontinue the practice of setting 
apart a day for memorializing deceased Congressmen; 
but when, upon more mature reflection, I recall that the 
custom is founded upon one of the deepest sentiments of 
life, I offer no protest, for I then believe that while post- 
mortem eulogies can not affect the dead, they can and 
do help the living. On such occasions the mind recalls 
only good; and in the midst of the sometimes bitter and 
strenuous strife of public life it is well for Congressmen 
and for the country to formally pause and consider death, 
the twin mystery of life. 

I do not know how it seems to you, Senators, but I am 
convinced that the benefits from public and private life 
are lessened and fall far short of their possibilities for 
good because of the failure to grasp and understand the 
truths that love, not hate; kindness, not bitterness; sym- 
pathy, not indifference, are the essential qualities of true 
greatness, and therefore of highest usefulness. The lon- 
gevity of real congressional service is not measured by 
the number of Congresses of which a man was a Member, 
but by the influence for good which he exerted while in 
Congress. It is true, of course, that long public service 
under a democracy implies exceptionally good service, 
but it is not conclusive proof of that fact. The man who, 
in a single term, inspired his associates and constituents 
to better thought and living will be found in the trial 
balance to have done more for his country and his 
countrymen than has he of many terms, whose legislative 
record includes only numerous abstract, technical enact- 
ments and many brilliant and bitter speeches. This is an 

[15] 



Memorial Addresses : Senator Bradley 

occasion when men stop for a moment at least and take 
account of stock. 

I saw the late Senator William 0. Bradley for the first 
time at the Republican national convention in Chicago in 
1888. I did not meet him there, but I heard him speak, 
and I was impressed with his apparent mental strength 
and virility. He was then in the very prime of his vigor- 
ous manhood. He was called before the convention and 
before gatherings in the hotels, and he always was equal 
to the occasion and inspired his hearers with enthusiasm. 
I did not see him again until he came to the Senate, and 
I did not meet him formally until I entered this body on 
March 4, 1911. 

Soon after coming here I became personally and well 
acquainted with him, for he was a kindly, lovable man, 
and attracted men to him. He loved his friends, and they 
were loyal and true to him. This fact is proven by the 
many positions of public trust which he, a Republican, 
held in the Democratic State of Kentucky. I knew him as 
a gentle soul, who saw the good and ignored the bad; and 
yet, being somewhat familiar with his life history, I know 
that his had been a strenuous career. At times his soul 
was stirred to its very depths over matters of right and 
wrong, and he pursued in unlimited degree the courage of 
his convictions. Up until the last years of his life he was 
an antagonist whom no wise man voluntarily courted. 

He had been in the Senate two years when I entered it, 
and I shall not forget his uniform kindness to me. He was 
my friend, as I was his; and I am grateful for the invita- 
tion to pay my brief tribute of respect to his memory. 

During nearly all the time of his service in the Senate 
he was a great sufferer from physical sickness; but his 
heart was always well, and his love and generosity are 
somewhat of the compensation which has come to me for 
service in the United States Senate. 



[16] 



Address of Mr. Works, of California 

Mr. President: I am not going to deliver a formal or 
prepared eulogy upon the life and services of Senator 
Bradley. I only want to say a very few words of kindly 
sympathy for the memory of one whom I respected and 
admired as a man and loved and esteemed as a friend. 

I did not know Senator Bradley personally until I came 
to the Senate and found him here. In his earlier life and 
mine we had lived in adjoining States, and I had known 
much of his valuable services to his State and his country. 
When I met him here I was from the beginning drawn 
to him by his kindly, genial, and generous disposition. 
From the first of my acquaintance with him he was 
afflicted with a disease that he understood to be incurable. 
He was waiting for the end, realizing that it was near; 
but through it all he was cheerful and patient to a degree. 
This high qualification of his character excited my most 
profound sympathy and admiration. It is these great 
qualities of his that have endeared him to thousands of 
the American people, not only in his State of Kentucky, 
but all over the country, and particularly here in the 
Senate Chamber. They are qualities that will keep his 
memory green in their minds and hearts for all the years 
to come. 

His was a character to be emulated. It was a great 
example to others. It gives me great pleasure to have 
this opportunity to say these few words in commemora- 
tion of his life and as a token of my high esteem for 
him as a man and a friend. 



74565°— 17 2 [17] 



Address of Mr. Williams, of Mississippi 

Mr. President: I shall not dwell upon the date or mo- 
ment of birth or death nor on the life opportunities of 
Gov. Bradley, later a Member of this body from the great 
State of Kentucky, nor upon how he availed himself of 
those opportunities. Those things will be found, in a 
general way, in the Congressional Directory, and have 
been, or will be, presented more specifically and inter- 
estingly by others. 

I never knew Gov. Bradley until he and I met as United 
States Senators upon this floor. My experience and 
training and environment had been such that I had 
always entertained, and then entertained, a very stubborn 
prejudice against southern white Republicans. That 
prejudice was dissipated as snow melts under sunshine, 
so far as he was concerned, as soon as I was brought into 
intimate personal contact with Senator Bradley. 

He was one of the most human men I ever knew — large 
hearted, unstinted in hospitality, sunny in temperament, 
with good hard sense, a proper sense of proportion, and 
consequently a lively sense of humor. Genialness was 
one of his most marked traits. 

During our service here together he tied himself to me 
by very many acts of kindness and by very many kindly 
words. He " had friends " because he " showed himself 
friendly," and in that respect heeded the express words 
of wisdom of the wise King of the Jews. 

It affords me pleasure to express my high idea of the 
man; his frankness; his courage of conviction; his open- 
hearted ways; his sturdy consistency of purpose. 

He was not " of my tribe " politically, but he was a 
splendid and true member of his tribe, thoroughly Amer- 

[18] 



Address of Mr. Williams, of Mississippi 



ican and thoroughly loyal to his own ideals. I sincerely 
grieved when he passed through " the valley of the 
shadow of death " into the great unknown. A friend had 
gone, and we do not make and hold many. 

We can all place our wreaths, with honor to ourselves, 
upon his grave and mingle our regrets with the regrets of 
those who knew him best and loved him best. 



[19] 



Address of Mr. Warren, of Wyoming 

Mr. President: Perhaps the most accurate measure of 
the personality and character of a public man is found 
in the opinion of him held by his political opponents or 
adversaries. In the rough-and-tumble game of politics, 
in the no-quarter features of political warfare, especially 
as carried on in the so-called border States occupying the 
line which once separated the North from the South, the 
man who can go through a political campaign and retain 
the personal friendship of his political foes is an unusual 
character. The man who can battle politically for a life- 
time and go down to his grave beloved personally, alike 
by political friend and foe, is a marvel. 

Such a man was our former beloved colleague, William 
O'Connell Bradley, who died in this city at his post of 
duty on Saturday evening, May 23, 1914, and to whose 
memory we to-day devote this session of the United States 
Senate. 

I shall speak briefly of the political incidents of our 
friend's career, as they bear out that trait of his character 
to which I have alluded — the capacity to make and hold 
personal friends regardless of political differences. 

As we have been told, he was the only Republican who 
ever served both as governor of Kentucky and as a United 
States Senator from that State. 

Before he became of voting age he was fighting in the 
political battles which always are waged furiously in 
Kentucky. Before he was 21 years of age he was admitted 
to practice law, and at the age of 23 was elected county 
attorney of Garrard County. At the age of 25 he was 
Republican elector for the eighth congressional district 
and a little later ran for Congress as a Republican, but 

[26] 



Address of Mr. Warren, of Wyoming 

was defeated. He again made an unsuccessful race for 
Congress in 1876. He was four times chosen Republican 
national committeeman for Kentucky, and went as dele- 
gate at large from Kentucky to five Republican national 
conventions. Four times he was chosen as the Republican 
caucus nominee for United States Senator. His first race 
for governor was made against Gen. Simon Bolivar Buck- 
ner, in 1887, when he was defeated by 17,000 majority, the 
preceding Democratic majority in the gubernatorial elec- 
tion having been 47,000. He declined an appointment by 
President Harrison as United States minister to Korea 
and an appointment by President Arthur as special at- 
torney to prosecute the noted " star-route " cases. 

He was not in politics for appointive places but for the 
thrill of the campaign and the contest at the polls. 

He finally won success in his political warfare, and was 
elected governor of Kentucky in 1895 over Gen. P. Watt 
Hardin, whom he defeated by 9,000 majority. He served 
as governor for four years. In February, 1908, he was 
elected to the United States Senate, and just prior to his 
death had announced that, on account of ill health, he 
would not be a candidate for reelection. 

He was a noted political campaigner, and his services 
on the stump extended beyond the limits of his own State 
in many national campaigns. The late Senator Thomas 
H. Garter, of Montana, once said that he considered Sen- 
ator Bradley the best campaign orator he had ever heard. 
Loyalty to his friends was one of his predominating quali- 
ties; and he was one of the famous 306 delegates who 
voted for 37 ballots for Gen. U. S. Grant for a third term 
in the Republican national convention held in Chicago 
in 1880. 

In our personal association with Senator Bradley dur- 
ing the five years and two months he was with us in this 
body we who served with him recall the predominating 
traits of his character — adherence to principle, loyalty to 

[21] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Bradley 

friends, generous and genial treatment of his colleagues, 
regardless of party. 

For every employee of the Capitol, no matter how 
humble his position, he invariably had a cheering word 
of salutation and a friendly smile. 

He was generous, not for the rewards of generosity, but 
because that was a fundamental trait of his being. Fail- 
ing in one instance in getting a claim through Congress 
for a constituent, he paid the claim himself. 

And so he lived his life — adamantine in devotion to 
what he considered the correct principles of government, 
gentle and yielding in his touch with humanity. 

His political opponents spoke of him in kindly terms. 

His Kentucky colleague in the Senate — he himself an 
orator of fame — once said of him: 

He was one of the most genial of men, and he was a prince 
among his fellows. He was a distinguished lawyer, a great orator, 
and a profound statesman. His followers in Kentucky idolized 
him, and they will love his memory as they loved him in his life. 

Another of his Kentucky colleagues — Hon. Swagar Sher- 
ley — said : 

He was the most distinguished Republican of Kentucky. While 
a pronounced partisan, his partisanship was secondary to his 
loyalty to his State. A more intensely loyal Kentuckian I never 
knew. He always had the respect of his opponents and the genu- 
ine affection of those fortunate enough to personally know him. 
He rendered conspicuous service to his State and country, and his 
death brings sorrow to all Kentuckians. 

The Courier-Journal of Louisville, which in a score of 
hard-fought political campaigns had employed the genius- 
tipped pen of its talented editor, Henry Watterson, to 
oppose him, had this tribute to make when his battles 
were ended: 

William O'Connell Bradley was the most affectionate and the 
kindliest of men in his familiar intercourse. He was sprung from 

[22] 



Address of Mr. Warren, of Wyoming 

a branch of that great line which gave Ireland its mightiest orator, 
and he possessed many of the characteristics of that extraordinary 
man. Certainly in persuasive powers no Kentuckian of his time 
could approach him before an audience of Kentuckians. He had 
eloquence and humor and common sense. That he became gov- 
ernor and Senator — the two most coveted gifts the people have to 
bestow — in a State where his party was in a woeful minority at- 
tests his genius and resources as a party leader. His fidelity to his 
personal associates, his political following, and his public duty 
were conspicuous and constant. He lived through trying times 
and shone undimmed to the last. The Courier-Journal, which en- 
tertains for his talents admiration and for his personality hearty 
good will, tenders his family the assurance of its profound sym- 
pathy and sorrow. 

On that spring day in his home city of Frankfort, as I 
looked across the open grave of our friend in the beauti- 
ful cemetery where his body was being laid at rest, I saw 
the thoughtful faces of many of Kentucky's public men — 
the governor, once our colleague here, and all of the State, 
county, and city officials. I saw the grief-stricken faces 
of his family and close friends and the solemn, respectful 
faces of hundreds of citizens who had gathered to pay him 
the last token of reverence and respect. 

As I saw this great gathering of officials, relatives, 
friends, and neighbors, and witnessed the sincere mani- 
festations of sorrow over the death of our colleague, I felt 
the conviction that he had not lived in vain; that he had 
played well his part in the wonderful drama of life; and 
that although the forum, the hustings, and the legislative 
halls would know him in the flesh no more forever, his 
memory would not fade nor his influence perish, and that 
his long fight for the principles of government in which 
he believed would prove an inspiration for his country- 
men to follow for years to come. 



[23] 



Address of Mr. Kern, of Indiana 

Mr. President: No man has lived in vain who, by 
reason of fine impulses and noble deeds, has been able to 
attach to himself a great body of friends, who have borne 
him such affection in life that they continue to cherish 
and honor his memory long after he has " gone forever 
and ever by." Where a man so lives after death in the 
memory of those who knew him best that they never tire 
of recounting his noble traits and generous acts there is 
proof positive of that nobility of soul which above all 
other things attests true greatness. 

William O. Bradley was blessed and cheered by the 
friendship of the best men and women in the land. Not 
only did the people of his own beloved Commonwealth 
delight in honoring him, but in him there were such rare 
qualities of head and heart that wherever he went he 
gathered to himself friends in every walk of life who gave 
him generously of their affection, and who now delight to 
honor his memory. Kentucky and Indiana are sister 
States. We of Indiana have always been proud of the 
kinship which has brought the two Commonwealths into 
commercial, political, and personal relationship of the 
most intimate character, and it was doubtless by reason 
of this relationship that I became very familiar with the 
high reputation of William 0. Bradley long before I had 
the pleasure of personal acquaintance; for his fame as a 
lawyer of ability and orator of great eloquence and power 
extended throughout the Middle West long before the 
people of Kentucky bestowed upon him the great honors 
which brought him prominently before the people of the 
entire country. 

When the announcement was made in 1895 that the 
splendid Democratic Commonwealth of Kentucky had for 

[24] 



Address of Mr. Kern, of Indiana 



the first time in her history chosen a Republican governor, 
the attention of the Nation was challenged, and it became 
a matter of common inquiry amongst men of all parties 
as to what manner of man it was who had thus been able 
to induce the people of that rock-ribbed Democratic State 
to ignore traditions, cast party differences to the winds, 
and bestow the greatest honor in their gift upon a stal- 
wart Republican leader, who in all the fierce political 
struggles in which he had engaged had fearlessly pro- 
claimed his party faith, and on those battle fields had 
never shown sign of yielding, but had always promptly 
returned a blow for every one he had ever received. 

It was learned then that it was because of his splendid 
courage and knightly qualities thus manifested that the 
brave and chivalrous people of his State came to respect 
and admire him as one of Kentucky's true sons; that 
while he differed from the majority on questions of gov- 
ernmental policy, he was a man of high ideals, infinite 
courage, and possessed all those splendid qualities of 
head and heart which cause the name " Kentuckian " to 
be honored in every land beneath the sun. 

And so when he came to this body his fame had pre- 
ceded him. Much was expected of him, and he measured 
up fully to the hopes of his friends. In his discussion of 
public questions he commanded the attention of both 
sides of the Chamber, and by his fidelity to duty under all 
circumstances won the confidence of the country. 

But it was because of his great heart, his sympathetic 
nature, his gentleness of spirit, that his comrades here so 
loved him that in his death each felt that he had suffered 
a distinct personal loss. 

I came to know him well and to love him greatly. 

We lived at the same hotel here in Washington, and, 
seeing him and conversing with him almost every day, I 
had opportunity to know of the greatness of his heart and 



[25] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Bradley 

the whiteness of his soul, his faithfulness to public duty, 
and the great love he bore to his fellow men, manifested 
every day of his life. 

I witnessed the fortitude and cheerfulness with which 
he bore the suffering which disease brought to him in the 
last years of life. Without a murmur of complaint he 
proceeded to the last in the discharge of his public duties 
like the hero that he was. 

Mr. President, Kentucky has given to the Nation many 
great men. She can justly boast of the illustrious names 
of her distinguished sons who have represented her in 
this body, for those of Clay, Crittenden, Breckinridge, 
Beck, and Carlisle illumine the history of the Republic; 
but, sir, Kentucky never gave to her country a son who 
possessed finer courage, more exalted patriotism, greater 
heart, or whiter soul than William CTConnell Bradley. 
Peace to his memory! 



[26] 



Address of Mr. Nelson, of Minnesota 

Mr. President: During the immediate period preceding 
the Revolutionary War and during the continuance of 
that struggle many of the frontiersmen and backwoods- 
men dwelling in the eastern slopes and valleys of the 
Allegheny Mountains pressed westward over and across 
the mountains and made the first settlements in the future 
State of Kentucky. They trekked through Cumberland 
Gap and other less notable passes. They were to a large 
extent of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and were a brave, virile, 
and aggressive — though to some extent unlettered — peo- 
ple, but better qualified than any other class to cope with 
the Indians and to subdue the wilderness. They were 
followed and, to some extent, interspersed with people 
from the eastern plains and the tidewater lands, who 
were chiefly of English stock, and who were rather more 
cultured and occupied a higher social plane than the 
backwoodsmen. In course of time these two elements 
blended and assimilated into a homogeneous people, con- 
stituting one of the best types of American citizenship, 
the cradle and nursery of great statesmen, great judges, 
and great warriors, who have left their permanent and 
enduring impress on the life of our Nation. 

It is a most remarkable fact that while the colonists on 
the east of the Allegheny Mountains were engaged in their 
struggle for independence these pioneers of Kentucky, 
with those of Tennessee, were engaged in the no less 
bloody task of adding an empire to the future Republic, 
and ridding it, to a great extent, of the incubus of the 
savage aborigines. In their zeal for exploration, settle- 
ment, and conquest, under the leadership of that great 
Virginian, George Rogers Clark, they pressed across the 
Ohio and seized and occupied the Illinois and Wabash 
country, thereby laying the foundation for securing, by 

[27] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Bradley 

the final treaty of peace with England, the vast domain 
bounded on the west by the Mississippi River and on the 
north by the Great Lakes, an empire then scarcely known 
to the people dwelling on the east side of the Allegheny 
Mountains. 

Eight years after the close of the Revolutionary War 
and two years after the adoption of the Federal Constitu- 
tion, Kentucky, without any preliminary Territorial gov- 
ernment, was, in 1791, admitted into the Union, being the 
first addition to the original thirteen States. From the 
time of her admission into the Union, Kentucky assumed 
a leading part among the sisterhood of States by reason 
of the fact that so many of her sons were gifted with a 
high order of talents for the management of public 
affairs. Her statesmen were among the leaders of the 
country and oftentimes exercised a controlling influence 
in the affairs of government. Not the least among the 
galaxy of her statesmen was our late departed colleague, 
William O. Bradley, who departed this life on the 23d 
of May, 1914, in the sixty-eighth year of his age and the 
last year of his term. He was a native son of Kentucky, 
descended from an intellectual, virile, and aggressive 
ancestry among the pioneers. 

Without the advantages of a higher or college educa- 
tion, his native intellectual abilities and energy were 
nevertheless such that at an early age he attained a lead- 
ing place at the bar among the many able and prominent 
men of the profession. He was well versed in the funda- 
mental principles of law, and was an able and successful 
trial lawyer, especially effective in his arguments before 
juries. His ability and reputation as a lawyer brought 
him an extensive practice in both the State and Federal 
courts. And to this work, when not engaged in the public 
service, he chiefly gave his attention. Though a thorough- 
going Republican in a State normally Democratic, yet he 
had many friends and admirers among the Democrats, 

[28] 



Address of Mr. Nelson, of Minnesota 

so that at every election at which he was a candidate he 
always polled a considerably greater vote than the normal 
vote of his party. 

In 1895 he was elected governor of his State by a plu- 
rality of nearly 9,000, in which office he served with high 
credit and ability, and in February, 1908, he was elected 
to the United States Senate by the legislature. As a Mem- 
ber of the Senate he proved to be very industrious and 
attentive to public business and a most excellent, ready, 
and effective debater, always good-natured, and always 
ready to take and give blows. He was genial, kind- 
hearted, and loyal to his friends. Sunshine and good will 
beamed from his countenance and were a part of his 
nature. The humble and the lowly could always have his 
attention and his help, and hence he was always near and 
dear to the popular heart. He was opposed to ostentation 
and display. He never had his eyes set on the galleries 
when he was addressing the Senate, but, rather, aimed to 
make his case plain and to enlighten and instruct his col- 
leagues. Senator Bradley was a man who had grown into 
public favor through his native ability, his energy, his per- 
severance, and his loyalty. He never sailed under false or 
sham colors. What he believed in he advocated openly 
and aboveboard. Guile and dishonesty were foreign to 
his nature. His public life and his public service, though 
varied and highly valuable, were, after all, but the outer 
shell of the noble soul and the brave heart that were his. 
He was a typical son of Kentucky, a sample of its bravest 
and best. In the words of the poet, he had a love for his 
country and his State as though they were his daughters, 
ready to smoke the pipes of peace or to hurl the toma- 
hawks of war, hatred of shams and innovations, pride 
in our common country and her Stripes and Stars. His 
mortal remains are buried in the soil of Kentucky, but 
that immortality of the soul that was his abides with us 
as a " pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night." 

[29] 



Address of Mr. Lewis, of Illinois 

Mr. President: I was requested by the distinguished 
senior Senator from Kentucky, Mr. James, to add a word 
to these ceremonies. I gladly accept the invitation and 
avail myself of the privilege. 

This is what is termed the proceedings of obituary. 
The world at large usually regards such as a mere form. 
Generally it is esteemed throughout the country that these 
are encomiums by courtesy, not by desert. 

I am sure that I, in common with thousands of others 
who had occasion to read of the proceedings of obituary 
in this body and in the other House, had concluded they 
were mere matters of form; that some one had to comply 
with them; that invariably some hollow expression was 
indulged as a mere ceremonial performance. 

It was not until it fell to my experience to observe the 
tender associations which are woven in the public service 
that I realized how false was that standard which the 
public had applied concerning the private estimate we 
public men have of those who serve with us as public 
agents. We know the man; the public know the official. 
We know the character; the public know the reputation. 

Mr. President, I have the advantage of the eminent Sen- 
ator from Mississippi, who distinguishes his State by the 
brilliant services he renders in this body, Senator Wil- 
liams, in that I, though a southerner, came into this body 
without any prejudice whatever against the white Re- 
publicans of the South, as the Senator concedes was his 
conviction. I had lived in the North and in the West so 
long that I had been divorced from such sentiments if 
ever they possessed me. 



[30] 



Address of Mr. Lewis, of Illinois 



I likewise had the advantage of the eminent leader of 
the majority, Senator Kern, of Indiana, who, having had 
a long personal acquaintance with the distinguished de- 
ceased previous to his service here, was naturally preju- 
diced in his favor. Such is the effect of personal associa- 
tion, which ever weaves a kindly regard because of its 
confidences. 

I did not know the distinguished Senator from Ken- 
tucky before I came to serve in this body. I have no 
memory that I had ever beheld him, however much I 
had heard of him. It was here in this body where I made 
the first acquaintance. It was the close touch with him 
as a Senator that enabled me to form an estimate that I 
am delighted to express upon this occasion. This oppor- 
tunity, which though solemn in its aspect, could give glad- 
ness to those who are privileged to participate, in that it 
enables them to do justice to a departed noble man. 

Mr. President, we live in an interesting hour. The old 
world is dying around us. Civilization is shattered. Cre- 
ation seems confused. Heroes of the earth are being 
buried, but we have not time to mark their passing. 
Kings are being dethroned, Emperors shaken from their 
seats, but we are removed from the cataclysm. The emi- 
nent soldier of Britain, Lord Kitchener, sank to his grave 
through the surging waves without more than an echo 
through the world. We were too busy; affairs of the life 
or death of nations possess us. 

My mind reverts to the summer of 1898, when I was a 
Member of the House of Representatives. The Spanish- 
American War was on and the world disturbed with 
martial disorder. In Europe, Bismarck passed out, but 
America had little time to note the great loss to Germany. 
Within five days after, Gladstone, of England, breathed 
his last salutation to earthly glory, but America had con- 
cerns so serious she neglected in her public Houses to pay 



[31] 



Memorial Addresses : Senator Bradley 

her tribute to the statesman of British liberty and consti- 
tutional justice. 

Here in America at the same period the distinguished 
Republican Party and America itself lost an eminent citi- 
zen and statesman in James G. Blaine; and yet we did 
not pause to note the loss or pay tribute to the acknowl- 
edged virtues; so busy were we with things that concerned 
us so closely in our national destiny, we neglected the 
duty to those at a distance. 

My mind adverts at this moment to a passage of Lecky. 
I think it is in his History of European Morals. Descant- 
ing upon that temper of mind of man which regards 
things at a distance of no concern to him, the writer 
invites attention to one who sits upon a river bank and 
says, " Behold." Of more concern to him are the dead 
leaves that float upon the stream than the thousands that 
are dying of hunger on the Ganges. 

Mr. President, we are some distance removed from these 
falling worlds, these dying kings, these dethroned em- 
perors, these crumbling empires. With those, sir, we do 
not concern ourselves more than we would with that 
which in a panorama attracts the gaze some time and, like 
a picture removed, passes from the vision. 

Here, however, in this assemblage the single death of 
one unit of our organization shocks the soul and awakens 
our sentiment. We bemoan the loss. Why? Because in 
that particular loss we note the loss of a man. Creation 
may build empires, my brother Senators, civilization may 
establish kingdoms, and upon both may rear rulers whom 
we call kings or emperors. With scepter they may sway 
their dominion with the power of life and death. But, 
after all, Heaven's noblest creation, as we know, is a man, 
and when thrown close enough to see the emotions in 
one of our brothers we attest that God's noblest creation 
is an honest man; then we stand in reverence; we are 



[32] 



Address of Mr. Lewis, of Illinois 



glad to bow in worship; we pay him tribute because we 
feel that, after all, life's great compact with civilization 
has been executed and exhibited to earth; a man standing 
square before his fellows and just before his God. 

How do we test such a one, Mr. President? We test 
him, sir, by his acts as we see them. We are remitted to 
the great Scripture law proclaiming that by the fruits 
of a tree ye shall know it. We behold this branch of 
civilization and see what it blooms and what it ripens, 
and by that we test, condemn, or praise it. 

When I first came to the acquaintance of Senator 
Bradley I was new in this body. Like all men who come 
here I had timidity, I had hesitancy, and with whatever 
audacity or courage we might be possessed we quail 
in the presence of our first undertaking. This is the 
most critical legislative body in the English-speaking 
world. It fell to my lot to engage in a debate with one of 
our eminent colleagues on the other side, carrying with it, 
of course, those partisan differences which are so natural 
to conflicts arising on both sides of this Chamber. It was 
at the conclusion of this that Senator Bradley, to whom 
I had never spoken, came over to greet me with a kindly 
message, reminding me that he knew some of my relations 
in Kentucky. He told me that he had done me the compli- 
ment to observe my public course, and he approved some 
of the things upon which much difference had been ex- 
pressed. He gave me counsel and friendly encourage- 
ment. 

You can readily understand, Mr. President, how close 
that man at once became to me. That which Senator Nel- 
son, of Minnesota, has just exquisitely expressed appealed 
to me — the man in his nature, that quality which the dis- 
tinguished Senator from Minnesota adverted to, the cour- 
age and the generosity of the nature within him. Those 
were the virtues which the Senator from Kentucky, his 



74565°— 17— 3 [33] 



Memorial Addresses : Senator Bradley 

eminent colleague, correctly adverted to. That courage 
that was admired in conflict, that justice that was ever 
perceived to prove itself in every fprm of life, that attri- 
bute of kindness, of goodness, that expression of char- 
acter that wanted to serve another, awakened in me a 
desire to know the man more fully. Thereafter from time 
to time it fell to me to engage with him in personal con- 
versation and official contact. Day after day, on occa- 
sion upon occasion, I learned thus to know him. What 
attracted me most, and here I delight to speak of it, was 
the want of cant in the man, the absence of hypocrisy. 
He was a noble soul in his speech; in his political debates 
I recall his assault upon the policy of Democracy upon a 
tariff question, then his oration upon foreign relations. 
Standing at his desk, he proclaimed his impeachment. 
He made no apologies. He sought in no wise to qualify 
his views to cultivate favor of the undecided. He differed 
from his colleagues, he assailed with virulence, denounced 
with vigor, and reached his conclusions with confidence. 
He hurled them against his political antagonist like a 
warrior, and then afterwards met his adversary in private 
affairs as a friend. It was such quality as that, sir, that 
attracted me to the nobility of his nature. 

If it be true, as Senator Warren, of Wyoming, asserted 
here, and Senator Nelson, of Minnesota, that these were 
the signal elements that went to make up the Kentucky 
character, I send my praise to so glorious a Common- 
wealth that should have signalized her existence by so 
splendid an example. 

Sir, I therefore praise where I saw the desert; and 
while we all sorrow at a death, if it affords an oppor- 
tunity to certify to those who loved him the esteem in 
which he was held by his opponents, his antagonists, what 
must be their conclusions concerning those who worship 
at the shrine of his capacity, where eloquence flashed 
from intellect and logic converted by its wisdom? 

[34] 



Address of Mr. Lewis, of Illinois 



Mr. President, there was one other feature to the man 
that attracted me. I do not know whether his colleagues 
had occasion to observe it. It was his interesting form 
of religion. He bore no outward pretense. He was not a 
Pharisee, who robed himself in the garb of a professed 
virtue. He was but a man realizing that duty was to be 
kindly to his fellow men. After all that is the real test 
of a Christian, the fulfillment, if I recall, of James, in his 
Epistle — the kindness to the bowed widow, the service to 
the deserted child, keeping oneself unspotted with the 
cruelties of the world. This was to him, as it was to the 
great apostle, " religion pure and undefined." 

I am not aware that he professed the creed of church, 
but, Mr. President, there rises to my mind a legend you 
may permit me to suggest as expressive of his faith — the 
definition of his religion: 

Sir John Lubbock was not known as a man of Christian 
pretensions. He was one who had no church creed, but 
he tried to live the life of a fellow man. He had given 
bread to the hungry. He had lifted the fallen. He had 
sought to console misery. He dreamed that he died and 
went to heaven. He reached the gates of heaven, and at 
the outer portal he was notified to behold. He did. He 
saw the followers of the churches sitting beneath their 
banners. At the right was the golden cross, and there 
were assembled the Catholics. They sat in the gleaming 
beauty of the Madonna. In a white-surpliced choir sat 
the Methodists, and by the crystal fount the Baptists. The 
watcher at the gate accosted Sir John, saying, "What is 
your religion, and where will you sit? " Sir John re- 
sponded, saying, " I know not church. I know duty. I 
have given bread to the hungry, I have lifted the fallen, 
I have spoken kindly to those who suffered, I have buried 
the dead, I have tried to live by that which a man should 
live by — some duty to his fellow men." Just then the 



[35] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Bradley 

Master, hearing all, said to Sir John, "Ah, it is you. We 
know much of you up here. We have heard much of you 
and your deeds. Come in, and sit you down wherever you 
please." So of that manner of man was this man, Senator 
Bradley. Let us believe that by the test of his manly life, 
by the nobility of his soul, by his deeds of goodness, he, 
too, heard from his Master the summons at the gate, say- 
ing, " Come in; come in; and sit you down wherever you 
please." There may he repose with his Father and his 
God. 



[36] 



Address of Mr. Overman, of North Carolina 

Mr. President: Until I came to the Senate this morning 
I did not know that I was expected to make any remarks 
on this occasion. I have, therefore, no prepared address, 
but I could not sit silent without saying just a word in 
memory of my deceased friend, without laying at least a 
simple little wild flower upon the tablet to his memory. 

He was my friend. I was his friend. I think every 
Senator upon this floor was his friend. I doubt whether 
any man who sat here with him had more personal friends 
than had Senator Bradley. 

Some time ago, Mr. President, I purchased 10 volumes 
of a book entitled " Choice Selections of Southern Liter- 
ature." Sitting in my library one afternoon looking over 
those volumes, I saw under the head of " Choice Epitaphs 
and Inscriptions" — and I may say in passing that these 
selections were by Dr. Alderman, president of the Uni- 
versity of Virginia, and one of the leading educators of 
the South — a sentiment uttered by Senator Bradley. On 
the battle field of Chickamauga stands a magnificent 
monument erected not to the Confederate dead, not to the 
Union dead, but to the heroes both of the Union side and 
of the Confederate side. An inscription is placed upon 
that monument, a short extract taken from the inaugural 
message of Senator Bradley to the Kentucky Legislature, 
urging that an appropriation be made for the purpose of 
erecting the monument. It is there in marble that will 
live longer than what we may say here, probably, and it 
shows Senator Bradley's breadth of character, his love 
for his fellow men, his patriotism, and his statesmanship. 
I quote that inscription, as follows: 

As we are united in life, and they united in death, let one 
monument perpetuate their deeds, and one people, forgetful of 

[37] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Bradley 

all asperities, forever hold in grateful remembrance all the glories 
of that terrible conflict which made all men free and retained 
every star on the Nation's flag. 

Kentucky was divided in the Civil War. Many of her 
sons fought in the northern army and many in the south- 
ern; and there were no braver soldiers on either side. 
Senator Bradley cast his fortunes with the side of the 
North, 

Senator Bradley was great of soul. He was full of 
music, poetry, and song. I have noticed him when at 
times he would wander from the Republican cloakroom 
into the Democratic cloakroom, wdiere he w T as always a 
welcome visitor. He invariably enlivened us with his 
humor, his delightful anecdotes, and his very interesting 
reminiscences. He was a man of humor, of wit, and of 
true eloquence. I have heard him at times upon the floor 
when he showed that he was an orator equal to any in 
this Chamber. I judge that not only by his eloquence, but 
by his logic and the systematic w 7 ay in which he always 
had his subject arranged. He always commanded the 
closest attention of the Senate. 

I say, Mr. President, that I loved him because he was 
close to me. We were associated together frequently. I 
served upon committees with him. I remember the de- 
lightful entertainments, in old Kentucky style, which he 
occasionally gave to his friends, and I was always one of 
his guests. They were indeed feasts of reason and joy to 
the hearts of all. He loved his friends. He loved little 
children. He loved the people of his State, and served 
them faithfully and well. He passes into the great beyond 
beloved by all his colleagues, and his people greatly mourn 
his sad departure. I trust that when he passed over the 
river he met his " Pilot face to face." 



[38] 



Address of Mr. Smoot, of Utah 

Mr. President: The Senate of the United States to-day 
pays tribute to the memory of one of Kentucky's noblest 
and most gifted sons, the late Senator William O'Connell 
Bradley, of whom it may well be said, in the words of 
Byron : 

Thy days are done; thy fame begun; 

Thy country's strains record 
The triumphs of her chosen son. 

• No history of Kentucky will be true to the facts unless 
the life and character of Senator William O. Bradley 
play an important part. In every sphere of public and 
private activity the luster of nobility of character and 
force possessed by this remarkable American entered. 

He was born near Lancaster, Ky., March 18, 1847, the 
only son of Robert M. and Ellen Totten Bradley. His 
father was one of Kentucky's greatest lawyers. The Civil 
War wrecked the father financially, and the son at the 
age of 14 ceased to attend school and ran away from 
home, joined the Union Army, first as recruiting officer 
in Pulaski County, and later as a private soldier at Louis- 
ville; but on account of his youthfulness he was taken 
from the Army by his father on each occasion. He en- 
tered the law office of his distinguished father and became 
so well qualified to practice that at the age of 18, by special 
act of the General Assembly of Kentucky, he was licensed 
to practice before the courts of Kentucky, and rapidly rose 
in the profession until he was foremost among the leading 
lawyers of that great State. 

He entered politics in 1869, and the following year was 
elected prosecuting attorney. In 1884 President Arthur 
selected him to prosecute the " star-route " cases, but it is 
said that the Attorney General denied a full prosecution 
and he withdrew from the case. He was the first Re- 

[39] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Bradley 

publican ever elected governor of Kentucky. He was a 
familiar figure in every Republican national convention 
for a quarter of a century. In February, 1908, he was 
elected to the United States Senate for the term ending 
March 3, 1915. 

He received the degree of LL. D. from the Kentucky 
University. He was renowned from one end of the coun- 
try to the other as an orator of marked ability. Many 
honors were conferred upon him by the people of Ken- 
tucky; indeed, so numerous were they that it would be- 
come tiresome for me to mention them all. 

Few Kentuckians ever lived a life so filled to the brim 
with public honors as was his, or perhaps gained a higher 
place in the esteem of their fellow citizens. These honors 
were not attained by accident of birth, but by his elo- 
quence, his logic, his energy, his personal magnetism and 
unquestionable honesty. His knowledge of our country's 
needs, his broad, dispassionate view of all public ques- 
tions, his conservatism, and his rare legal ability did much 
for the Nation and won for him a place among the great 
men of our times. 

I count as one of the great pleasures of my life the 
acquaintance and friendship of Senator Bradley. How I 
enjoyed his association, how he enjoyed his visits to my 
home, how my children looked forward to his coming to 
spend the evening with them. The hours so spent were 
ones never to be forgotten. He never tired of singing the 
praises of the splendid qualities and noble characteristics 
of the people of the South, and would always remind my 
children that their grandfather, Abraham Owen Smoot, 
was born in the blue-grass country of Kentucky, in sweet 
Owen County, a country God always smiles upon. 

It was next to impossible for anyone to resist the charm 
of his old-time manners, plainly visible in their exquisite 
taste and homely kindliness, showing no distinction of 



[40] 



Address of Mr. Smoot, of Utah 



social caste or of age. He was free and generous to a 
fault. He never was so happy as when he was making 
others happy. There was something inspiring about the 
friendship he bore for those who were near to him. He 
possessed the gift of a perfect hospitality, and I doubt 
whether a man ever lived who exercised it with more 
graciousness. This can be testified to by nearly every 
Senator who occupied a seat in this body during the short 
service of Senator Bradley in the Senate. In addition to 
the happy gift as a matchless host he possessed the happy 
faculty of telling a story in such a way that gave his 
hearers a lasting impression of the point he wished to 
illustrate. Many of his stories were based upon great 
events in the history of our country. I suggested to him 
a short time before his death that he should select and 
have published his best stories, as I was confident they 
would prove a great benefit to the American people. I 
suggested this same thing to the late Senator Taylor, of 
Tennessee, only one week before his death. Senators 
Bradley and Taylor were among the most gifted story 
tellers of our country. 

A man may possess all the gifts and qualifications that 
Senator Bradley possessed and still not be personally 
popular with the masses. Not so in his case. No man 
was easier to approach, and at all times he was willing 
to plact himself upon a par with the humblest of his con- 
stituents with whom he came in contact. He was the idol 
of a large portion of the people of Kentucky. There was 
one political virtue which he always adhered to, and that 
was gratitude to his friends. He never used a man to fur- 
ther his ambitions and then sacrificed him when occasion 
demanded it. He was true to those who served him. In 
most of the political contests in Kentucky he was the 
center of the battle and the enemy always directed their 
criticisms toward him. Defeat never dismayed nor did 



[41] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Bradley 

reverses discourage him. He was a faithful friend, a 
brilliant lawyer, a fearless and painstaking public servant. 
Thus he lived and thus he died. God was good to him in 
giving him a combination of virtues and talents seldom 
given to man, and rarely when given do they work in 
harmony as in the life of Senator Bradley. 

He was no demagogue, but at all times a loyal advocate 
and an outspoken champion of the principles for which 
he stood. No selfish ambition ever kept him silent or 
made him swerve from his duty to his people. His hon- 
esty was known, admired, and esteemed throughout the 
length and breadth of the country 7 . He was earnest, dili- 
gent, and faithful to every trust reposed in him. His clean 
life and character, without a stain, are his best monument. 

Upon his deathbed and during the last two hours of his 
life he exerted all the power at his command in delivering 
a speech upon national questions as if he were standing in 
his place in the Senate Chamber. His last words spoken 
in this life were delivered as if answering an interruption 
by a fellow Senator, as follows : " I can not yield to the 
Senator; my time is limited." No further word was said; 
no further struggle for life ensued. Senator Bradley was 
dead. 

His life's work is over, his remains rest beneath the sod 
of his beloved Kentucky. He is not dead, but sleepeth, his 
soul having passed on to paradise, to continue his work 
in connection with his Maker, for — 

Death 's but a path that must be trod 
Tf man would ever pass to God. 

I feel assured from his private life and public career 
that Senator Bradley, so true, so patriotic, so honorable, 
has passed into a brighter and happier existence in the 
great beyond. 

In the silence of the receding world he heard the great waves 
breaking on a farther shore and felt upon his wasted brow the 

breath of the eternal morning. 

[42] 



Address of Mr. Beckham, of Kentucky 

Mr. President : Since I came to the Senate some months 
ago as a successor to the late Senator Bradley I have 
heard many Senators who served with him speak of him 
in terms of kindness and of pleasant recollection of his 
genial and attractive personality. His popularity as a 
Member of the Senate seems to have been well established 
and his death brought genuine sorrow to his associates 
here, as it did to his many friends and admirers in Ken- 
tucky. This has not been surprising to me, for in an 
acquaintance with him of about 20 years I came to know 
him well and to appreciate not only his ability as a leader 
of men, but also the charm of manner and personal mag- 
netism by which he bound people to him in devoted friend- 
ship and achieved remarkable success in his political and 
professional life. 

He was a natural leader; his influence over his followers 
was extraordinary, and those who opposed him always 
knew that they had a foeman worthy of their steel. Upon 
the stump or at the bar he possessed a forcible and per- 
suasive style of oratory. As a debater he was ready, 
quick, and formidable. But at the same time he was 
courteous and fair to his opponents. 

It was chiefly through his skillful leadership and power 
as an orator that his party won its first victory in Ken- 
tucky. In the year of 1895 he was the nominee of his 
party for governor. He saw with keen delight the division 
and dissension within the ranks of the Democratic Party; 
he played upon and aggravated those differences with a 
master's hand; and through the divided sea of Democracy 
he led his minority forces toward the promised land of 
victory with an adroitness and skill that even his oppo- 
nents had to admire. 

[43J 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Bradley 

Owing to unusual conditions prevailing in the State at 
that time, his four years' service in that office was not, in 
my opinion, congenial or agreeable to him. Of an impul- 
sive and generous nature, he did not possess that quality 
of patience nor that poise of temperament so essential to 
one in a high executive position. He was better equipped 
for service in a legislative assembly than in the office of 
governor, just as he was far more successful as an advo- 
cate at the bar than he would have been as a judge on the 
bench. He found, I imagine, his most congenial service 
in the Senate, where he is so kindly and pleasantly remem- 
bered by those who served with him. 

My acquaintance and relations with Senator Bradley 
for 20 years were unique and peculiar. During that tur- 
bulent period of political conditions in Kentucky he and 
I were always on opposite sides. While he was governor, 
and I was a member of the legislature, and at one session 
speaker of the house, I was not in accord with his admin- 
istration; and then when I was governor, after him, I 
never heard of his giving expression to any extravagant 
praises of my administration. In the session of the gen- 
eral assembly of 1908 he and I were the opposing can- 
didates of our respective parties for the United States 
senatorship, and he was elected. 

Our political differences were wide and fundamental. 
We differed upon those issues which divided the two great 
political parties, and we differed also upon those issues 
which in recent years in our State have caused divisions 
within each party. Sometimes in the heat of one of those 
overheated campaigns which we occasionally have in Ken- 
tucky he and I may have said things about each other a 
little harsher than we would have said in calmer moments. 

And yet, Mr. President, with all of these political differ- 
ences and rivalries between us, we always preserved 
the most cordial and friendly personal relations. The 

[44] 



Address of Mr. Beckham, of Kentucky 

intensity of campaign contests between us may have, at 
times, temporarily strained, but they never broke, those 
relations between us. I always found him a courteous 
and knightly antagonist. He was a manly and courageous 
fighter. He knew well how to deal blows and he knew 
equally well how to receive them. In his home, where I 
was sometimes a guest, he was a genial and hospitable 
host. 

In the many discouraging and disappointing features 
of political life it is always refreshing to one who takes 
an active part in it to meet on terms of generous consid- 
eration and of mutual respect those who differ with him 
and who recognize the wise and salutary principle that 
the weapons of political warfare shall be laid aside in all 
other relations among men. The line that divides political 
parties in their differing ideas of governmental policies 
should never appear in the social affairs of the people or 
in their broader responsibilities and obligations as citizens 
of this Republic. Firmness of conviction is not dimin- 
ished by a due respect for the opinion of those who differ 
with us. 

It is to the great credit and honor of the United States 
Senate that in no other body of men on earth is that prin- 
ciple of respect for the opinions of others more constantly 
regarded and practiced. The aisle which divides this 
Chamber is not like the international boundary line be- 
tween two unfriendly nations. It simply represents cer- 
tain, or sometimes uncertain, differences of opinion be- 
tween us as to what is the best for our common country, 
all of us equally interested in its welfare and in the 
prosperity and happiness of its one hundred millions of 
people. 

Senator Bradley had the proper conception of this idea 
in his public career, and it was illustrated in the fact that 



[45] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Bradley 

his death was deeply mourned upon both sides of this 
Chamber, regardless of political divisions. 

In his death the State of Kentucky lost one of its most 
interesting and forceful leaders of the past generation, 
and the many thousands of his friends and admirers there 
join with us to-day in paying tribute to his memory. 

Mr. President, as a further mark of respect to the mem- 
ory of the late Senator Bradley, I move that the Senate 
adjourn. 

The Presiding Officer (Mr. Sterling in the chair). The 
question is on agreeing to the motion of the Senator from 
Kentucky. 

The motion was unanimously agreed to; and (at 1 
o'clock and 53 minutes p. m.) the Senate adjourned until 
Monday, June 26, at 12 o'clock m. 



[46! 



Eulogy by Mr. C. Lee Cook 

Thursday, June 29, 1916. 

Mr. Smoot. I have been requested by a number of Sen- 
ators to ask unanimous consent that a eulogy of the late 
Senator William O. Bradley, by his lifelong friend, Mr. 
C. Lee Cook, be printed in the Record. It consists of only 
a very few pages, and if there is no objection I should like 
to have it printed. 

The Vice President. Without objection, it is so ordered. 

The address is as follows : 

EULOGY OF SENATOR WILLIAM O'CONNELL BRADLEY, BY HIS 
FRIEND, MR. C. LEE COOK 

The death of Senator Bradley has removed from our 
midst a distinguished and picturesque man. He was 
among the last of that heroic type made by the destiny 
of the Civil War. Although but a boy when the conflict 
began, the fire of patriotism so burned in his young heart 
that he ran away from home twice to enlist on the side 
of the Union. In the trying days following the end of 
that strife he was always an ardent adherent of the jus- 
tice of his country's cause; yet in the full maturity of 
his brilliant forensic ability, when the Union had no need 
of vindication, when the bristling armor of her military 
forces lay rusting beneath the work of peace, he, with a 
love and loyalty not surpassed, raised his eloquence to 
heal the wounds of a prostrate South, to revive her broken 
spirit, and to help build back her system and her enter- 
prise and reclaim the waste of her fields and the ruin of 
her cities. And, sir, what is more, he did a great work 
toward readjustment of public sentiment at the North 
toward, indeed, the true glory of a reunited country. 

[47] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Bradley 

Sir, he was well fitted for his course in life; God gave 
him great gifts — a superior and commanding intellect, a 
high resolve, an inflexible will, and an eloquence that has 
not often been surpassed in the forum of our country. 
This is the more extraordinary since he never received a 
collegiate training. All the formal instruction he ever 
had was in the country schools of Kentucky. Neither had 
he the privilege of the classroom in the study of law. Yet 
with this handicap he became the equal of almost every 
lawyer of his State, and he had many an occasion to prove 
that eminence. His fidelity to a client, his recognition 
of the importance of thoroughly preparing a case, his 
knowledge of the law, his aptitude in applying the law to 
intricate circumstances, his adroitness in examining wit- 
nesses, his extraordinary powers of analysis in law and 
fact, his constructive attainments, and his brilliant appeal 
made him preeminent at the bar. He won a large fortune 
by his profession, but gave it away in the service of others. 

He was a man of very engaging personality. His spirit 
seemed to be a flame that lighted all around him, that 
gave him remarkable capacity for leadership among men. 
With this unusual qualification he raised the Republican 
Party from a secondary place to a majority of the suffrage 
in Democratic Kentucky, and was thus elected governor 
in 1895. 

Though he was not in the strictest sense a scholar, for 
neither chance nor his rugged nature fitted him for that 
quiet eminence of the inner school, he yet had a fine re- 
gard for the refinements of scholarship. He was a man 
fully conscious of his great talents, yet he never insulted 
Providence by disdaining the mental limitations of any 
man. If, though, one first cast contempt upon him, his 
tongue became a Damascus blade that seldom met a con- 
queror. No one ever entertained a nobler view of the 
office of friendship than did Senator Bradley. When 



[48] 



Eulogy by Mr. C. Lee Cook 



once he found in an acquaintance the acceptable virtues 
of manhood, neither race, religion, nor politics could assail 
in the feeblest voice a just estimation nor prevent the rais- 
ing of the true spirit of fellowship toward such a one. 
His heart was as tender as that of a mother to her infant. 
His sympathies were as broad as life's field of hope, of 
joy, of misery, and of strife; worthily he did what he could 
to secure its happiness, brighten its shadows, assuage its 
pangs, and ameliorate its conditions. 

While Senator Bradley was not a close adherent to 
religious formalism, in his heart was a profound reverence 
for the infinite and divine. He was an intense and pious 
student of the Bible, and on one occasion when I called 
upon him unannounced I found him, with tears in his 
eyes, deep in the pages of that sacred book. 

Knowing, as I did, this great departed man, being hon- 
ored by him with a most intimate relationship, and enjoy- 
ing the inner privileges of confidence, though on almost 
every political question our opinions differed, I can say 
that richly he deserved the tribute, " His life was gentle, 
and the elements so mix'd in him, that Nature might stand 
up and say to all the world, ' This was a man ! ' " 

Sir, 'twill be some time before we shall see his like again. 



74565°— 17 4 [49] 



Proceedings in the House of Representatives 

Monday, May 25, 19U. 
The House met at 11 o'clock a. m. 

The Chaplain, Rev. Henry N. Couden, D. D., offered the 
following prayer: 

God of the universe, Father of all souls, dispenser of 
all good, strengthen our faith, encourage our hopes, and 
bring us closer to Thee, that with clear minds, warm 
hearts, and ready hands we may push forward in every 
good work and departing leave the world a little better 
that we have lived and wrought. Freely we have received, 
freely may we give. 

Admonished, bj r the death of one of the congressional 
household, of the brief tenor of life, to work while it is 
yet day, for the night cometh when no man can work; 
comfort, we beseech Thee, the colleagues, friends, and 
bereaved family by the blessed hope of the life immortal 
and prepare us all for the change inevitable, that we may 
be ready when the summons comes to go forward to what- 
ever awaits us in the dispensation of Thy providence. In 
the spirit of Him who said, " I am the resurrection and the 
life." Amen. 

A message from the Senate, by Mr. Tulley, one of its 
clerks, announced that the Senate had passed the follow- 
ing resolutions : 

Resolved, That the Senate has heard with deep regret and pro- 
found sorrow of the death of Hon. William O. Bradley, late a 
Senator from the State of Kentucky. 

Resolved, That a committee of 14 Senators be appointed by the 
Vice President to take order for arranging the funeral of Mr. 
Bradley. 

[51] 



Memorial Addresses: Senator Bradley 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect his remains be 
removed from his late home in this city to Frankfort, Ky., for 
burial, in charge of the Sergeant at Arms, attended by the commit- 
tee, who shall have power to carry these resolutions into effect. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate these proceedings to 
the House of Representatives. 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of 
the deceased Senator the Senate do now adjourn. 

That in compliance with the foregoing the Presiding 
Officer had appointed as said committee Mr. James, Mr. 
Gallinger, Mr. Warren, Mr. Overman, Mr. Smoot, Mr. 
Shively, Mr. Root, Mr. Kern, Mr. Martine of New Jersey, 
Mr. Poindexter, Mr. O'Gorman, Mr. Fall, Mr. Smith of 
Arizona, and Mr. Hughes. 

Mr. Johnson of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous 
consent for the present consideration of a resolution which 
I send to the Clerk's desk. 

The Speaker. The gentleman from Kentucky asks unani- 
mous consent for the present consideration of a resolution 
which the Clerk will report. It does not require unani- 
mous consent. 

Mr. Johnson of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I move the adop- 
tion of the resolution. 

The Speaker. The Clerk will report the resolution. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

House resolution No. 526 

Resolved, That the House has heard with profound sorrow of 
the death of the Hon. William O. Bradley, a Senator of the United 
States from the State of Kentucky. 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the 
Senate and transmit a copy thereof to the family of the deceased 
Senator. 

Resolved, That a committee of 16 Members be appointed on the 
part of the House to join the committee appointed on the part of 
the Senate to attend the funeral. 

The Speaker. The question is on agreeing to the reso- 
lution. 

[52] 



Proceedings in the House of Representatives 

The resolution was unanimously agreed to. 

The Speaker. The Chair appoints the following com- 
mittee on the part of the House to attend the funeral : Mr. 
Johnson of Kentucky, Mr. Stanley, Mr. Sherley, Mr. Helm, 
Mr. Thomas, Mr. Cantrill, Mr. Fields, Mr. Rouse, Mr. Bark- 
ley, Mr. Langley, Mr. Austin, Mr. Kahn, Mr. Green of Iowa, 
Mr. J. M. C. Smith, Mr. Switzer, and Mr. Johnson of Wash- 
ington. The Clerk will report the next resolution. 

The Clerk read as follows : 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect the House do now 
adjourn. 

The Speaker. The question is on agreeing to the reso- 
lution. 

The resolution was unanimously agreed to ; accordingly 
(at 12 o'clock and 25 minutes p. m.) the House adjourned, 
under the order previously made, until to-morrow, Tues- 
day, May 26, 1914, at 11 o'clock a. m. 

Tuesday, June 27, 1916. 
A message from the Senate, by Mr. Waldorf, one of its 
clerks, announced that the Senate had passed the follow- 
ing resolutions : 

Resolved, That the Senate has heard with deep sorrow of the 
death of the Hon. William 0. Bradley, late a Senator from the 
State of Kentucky. 

Resolved, That as a mark of respect to the memory of the de- 
ceased the business of the Senate be now suspended to enable his 
associates to pay proper tribute to his high character and distin- 
guished public services. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate a copy of these reso- 
lutions to the House of Representatives and transmit a copy thereof 
to the family of the deceased. 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of 
the deceased the Senate do now adjourn. 

Jt 

[53] 



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